Mark L. Hopkins: The Great Compromiser

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May 15, 2017 at 10:24 AMMay 15, 2017 at 10:24 AM

Mark L. Hopkins More Content Now

Repeal Obamacare. Repeal Roe vs. Wade. Get rid of restrictions on the development of energy resources. Cancel ecology regulations. Build a wall on our southern border. Fully fund Medicare. Pass a balanced budget. Fund medical and scientific research. Save Social Security. It is a formidable list, though not exhaustive. The question is, will any of these major goals of one or another of our political parties actually move through our legislative process and become law?

The realists among us know that none of these desires of our political parties will become law without the willingness to compromise extreme positions and move to middle ground. The question for us and for our leadership in Washington D.C. is, “Who will step up and lead the way to compromise, to actions beneficial to the people, to getting rid of gridlock in Congress?”

History is full of statesmen who made great contributions. George Washington we revere as the Father of Our Country, Abraham Lincoln as The Great Emancipator for freeing the slaves, and Franklin D. Roosevelt took the country at its lowest point and breathed life back into our economy. Did we ever have a person whose greatest contribution was providing leadership in the solution of problems through compromise? Indeed we did.

One man made his mark on our nation in the 19th century by negotiating compromise. He was known as “The Great Compromiser.” His name was Daniel Webster. No, he isn’t the guy who created our dictionary. That was Noah Webster. Daniel Webster lived during one of the most tumultuous times in our history. He was born in 1782 and served our country both in the Senate and as Secretary of State from 1830 to 1852. During that 22-year period there were many major conflicts, several of which required compromises in order to avert war.

Daniel Webster was our negotiator with Canada and Great Britain over the border between Canada and the state of Maine. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty averted a third war with Great Britain and Canada over that contested border. The treaty was created by compromise. Both sides gave up something they wanted in order to reach agreement. That treaty also created the U.S. and Canadian border through the middle of the Great Lakes and guaranteed free navigation for both countries on those inland waterways.

President Andrew Jackson and Congress had a significant conflict over the function and responsibility of a National Bank in 1832. Daniel Webster effected a compromise that, while not providing either side with what they wanted, gave enough to create The National Bank. Though it died in 1836, it became the model and forerunner of our Federal Reserve System that re-emerged in the 20th century and still functions today as a stabilizing influence on our financial institutions.

Perhaps the most famous of Webster’s accomplishments was called The Compromise of 1850. It settled a disagreement between the Southern and Northern States regarding the status of the territories won in the war with Mexico (1846-1848). Henry Clay (Kentucky) and John C. Calhoun (South Carolina) almost came to blows over the disposition of the new territories until Daniel Webster stepped in with a compromise that allowed some territories to have slaves, others not, and a third region to have control over whether or not slaves were to be permitted. Had this compromise not been effected, it is likely that the Civil War, fought in the 1860s, would have been fought many years earlier.

The point of the foregoing is that we could use Daniel Webster or someone with his capabilities in this tumultuous time. We have watched the U.S. Congress live with gridlock for much of the past 6 years. The political far right and far left remain at ideological swords points. Neither can see merit in the positions or proposals of the other. The art of politics is the art of compromise. We need another great compromiser like Daniel Webster.

-- Dr. Mark L. Hopkins writes for More Content Now and the Anderson Independent-Mail in South Carolina. He is past president of colleges and universities in four states. Books by Hopkins currently available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble include “Journey to Gettysburg” and “The Wounds of War,” both Civil War-era novels, and “The World As It Was When Jesus Came.” Contact him at presnet@presnet.net.

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